A Year of Progress

A couple of photos of my mom shows how happy she is with everything we’ve improved within the span of ten months, and her new dress catching the sunset compliments the exotic flowers and fruit everywhere. The new sunroom porch beautifully completes the oasis view of the back of the house, and the final four new greenhouses (Tents 9-12) are nearly complete on the near-west pasture. Just have to hang doors, move the rows of cacti inside and run electricity to them before real cold gets here.

Florida roselle, a Hibiscus that yields flower calyxes that taste like cranberry, gave a mega-yield of pink flowers and food this year. The overall yield was still good despite rampant theft by fuzzy pests. On a recent visit to Cedar Lakes Woods and Gardens I was pleased to see that everything in their cactus&succulent exhibit is growing after consulting with them on substrate and planting. Most of the columnar cacti they bought from me to augment the main collection have doubled in size with healthy, robust growth. Neighbor’s birds hopped the fence via low branches for a visit during our snack-thirty, to catch some greens and bugs while making our own birds jealous that they don’t have free range. Three Rhode Island Reds and four smaller Guineafowl came right up to my mom, figuring she’s the legendary treat lady.